I Wonder When I Shall Be Married
DESCRIPTION: "I wonder when I shall be married... For my beauty's beginning to (fail/fade)." The girl's parents would be happy to see her married; they offer a good dowry ("forty good shillings" and household furnishings) but there are as yet no takers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1923 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: age loneliness marriage dowry beauty clothes nonballad family oldmaid
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,NE,SE)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "I WONDER WHEN I SHALL BE MARRIED"
Cox/Hercog/Halpert/Boswell-WVirginia-B, #16, pp. 157-158, "Old Maid's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, p. 27, "I Wonder When I Shall Be Married" (1 text)
Ritchie-FolkSongsOfTheSouthernAppalachians, p. 71, "I Wonder When I Shall Be Married" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol1, p. 104, "I Wonder When I Shall Be Married" (1 text, 1 tune, probably derived from a Ritchie Family recording)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #78, "I Wonder When I Shall Be Married" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bronner/Eskin-FolksongAlivePart2 48, "I Wonder When I Shall Be Married" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Ballard/Brown/Barry-NewGreenMountainSongster, pp. 180-182, "The Old Maid's Song" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Tobitt-TheDittyBag, p. 126, "I Wonder When I Shall Be Married" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tobitt-YoursForASong, p. 14, "I Wonder When I Shall Be Married" (1 text, 1 tune)
SongsOfAllTime, p. 13, "I Wonder When I Shall Be Married" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WHENMARI
Roud #818
RECORDINGS:
Jean & Edna Ritchie, "I Wonder When I Shall Be Married" (on Ritchie03)
Roxana Robinson, "I Wonder When I Shall Be Married" (Piotr-Archive #700, recorded 10/01/2023)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Maid's Song (I)" and references there
cf. "O Gin That I Were Mairrit" (theme, lyrics)
cf. "I Am Gaun to the Garret" (lyrics, theme)
NOTES [112 words]: This probably began as a British broadside, "The Maiden's Sad Complaint for Want of a Husband," and has a sister in this Index known as "I Am Gaun to the Garret". Even the American versions are often still quite British (note the forty shilling dowry!). But British versions often end with her finding a husband, so I'm listing this as a separate song.
Note that Cox's text is from Kentucky, not West Virginia -- and almost identical to the well-known Ritchie Family version. Also, Roxana Robinson, Derek Piotr's source, came from Pine Mountain, Kentucky, which says to me that most of the American versions probably derive from the same sources as the Ritchie version. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: CoxII16
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